Profitable ‘Riverdance’ continues ripple effect

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004 | 8:24 a.m.

Today it's an industry, with numerous productions dancing their way around the world.

Las Vegas has two of them, including "Lord of the Dance" at The Venetian and "Spirit of the Dance" at the Golden Nugget. "Spirit" has been on hiatus since December and is scheduled to resume in March.

"Riverdance" will be at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts from Wednesday through Sunday.

"Prior to the production, there was no such thing as professional Irish dancers," Julian Erskine said during a recent telephone interview from his home in Dublin. "It was just a competitive hobby children would start out doing at 3 or 4 and give up at 16 or 17, when they went to college."

Erskine, senior executive producer of "Riverdance," is one of those who helped create the international phenomenon.

"Riverdance" began as a 7-minute act in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, an event produced by Moya Doherty for RTE, Ireland's leading television network.

"Moya Doherty came up with the idea for 'Riverdance' after she saw the reaction to the dancers," Erskine said. "She realized it could make a show. I came in at that point."

Doherty's husband, John McColgan (director), along with Bill Whelan (composer) and Mavis Ascott (choreographer), created the production, and Erskine produced it.

"Riverdance" premiered Feb. 9, 1995, at the Point Depot Theater in Dublin and ran for five weeks. Every performance was sold out.

Michael Flatley was the original lead dancer. He left the show eight months after its premiere and nine months later debuted his own production, "Lord of the Dance."

Erskine says there are only a handful of the original dancers left in the show.

"We still have a few," he said, "but not many. In the last year we have seen most of the originals leave. It's an age thing. They came to us when they were 19 or so and now they're 27 or 28 and thinking, 'Gosh, it's time to move on.' "

The demand for "Riverdance" was so great that three road companies were created to travel the world, stopping for extended stays of several months in London and on Broadway.

"Our other longest stay in one place was 16 weeks in Boston," Erskine said. "We're basically a touring company, but we tend to go back to places on a regular basis -- some of them six or seven times."

The company's success spawned competition, which has both helped and hurt "Riverdance."

"It cuts both ways," Erskine said. "A good show will create an interest in Irish dance and fans will want to come see us.

"But some of the shows are not very good. The cheap knockoffs, they hurt. If that's somebody's first experience of an Irish dance show, then they're not likely to want to go and see another."

He declined to identify the shows he believes are inferior.

"Call it professional etiquette," Erskine said. "But they know who they are."

Erskine said one of the problems is that some productions don't use Irish dancers.

"They take in show dancers and teach them an Irish dance number as a piece of choreography," he said. "The show will include everything from dances by Bob Fosse to Irish. For me, that's a problem.

"We have Irish dancers who have been doing it since they were 3, as opposed to someone who is just doing it for a living."

Dublin-born lead dancer Padraic (pronounced poor-rick) Moyles, 24, is one of those who has been dancing since the age of 3.

When he was 9, Moyles' family immigrated to New York. He wanted to audition for "Riverdance" before he graduated from high school in the Bronx, but his parents wouldn't let him.

Since joining the cast at age 17, he says he couldn't be happier and has no plans to leave anytime soon.

"It's like a family for those of us who have been here for a while," said Moyles, who joined the company in 1997. "A lot of dancers have come and gone. My best friend just went back to Ireland."

He enjoys his work too much to think much about the future.

"I have no goal in mind," Moyles said. "There's not a lot of people in the world totally in love with their job."

When the inevitable happens and he does leave, he thinks he may become a coach.

"I had a couple of soccer scholarships offered to me when I graduated from high school," he said.

Until then, he's going to keep dancing.

And so is "Riverdance."

Erskine, a theatrical producer for 30 years, says worldwide interest in his production hasn't subsided in spite of the competition.

"We were the first show," Erskine said. "We are put together from different criteria. We created something that was never there before. Every other Irish show owes its existence to the success of 'Riverdance.'

"The integrity of the show is still up there onstage. We're not there for the fast buck."

Erskine said the presence of two Irish dance shows in Las Vegas creates added pressure in selling tickets.

"We're relying on the fact that Las Vegas has a passing audience, and when they see we are in town they will choose to come to our performance," Erskine said. "And for those who live in Las Vegas, they should come and see us because we are passing through and they can see the other shows anytime."